The aviation industry will have to spend up to $7.4 billion to equip commercial aircraft with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast avionics under a notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the FAA. But operators would have until 2020 to comply, even though the ground-based part of the system may be completed by 2013.
Oct. 9-10—The Aerospace Corp.’s Manufacturing Problem Prevention Program Meeting on Advanced Space Materials. Corporate Headquarters, El Segundo, Calif. Call +1 (310) 336-5000, fax +1 (310) 336-7055 or see www.aero.org/conferences Oct. 9-11—Space Foundation’s “Global Security Conference for Space and Defense Professionals.” Qwest Center, Omaha, Neb. Call +1 (719) 576-8000, fax +1 (719) 576-8801 or see www.spacefoundation.org
Against a backdrop of record orders and backlogs for new executive jets, some business aviation executives attending last week’s exuberant annual convention of the National Business Aviation Assn. here voiced concerns that environmental sensitivities could follow the threat of user fees as the next potential party pooper.
Rockwell Collins has launched a new brand of avionics, Pro Line Fusion, and will bring both enhanced vision and synthetic vision to the Bombardier Global Express XRS and Global 5000 flight decks.
Christopher Richmond has been promoted to senior vice president/head of the commercial geosynchronous (GEO) satellite business unit of the Orbital Sciences Corp. , Dulles, Va., from vice president-GEO satellite programs. He succeeds Ali Atia, who will lead a research and development program prior to retiring. Amer Khouri has become the unit’s vice president-marketing and business development. He was senior vice president-strategy, business development and global marketing for Intelsat.
Edward Berger has been appointed head of business development for Bermuda-based Intelsat Ltd . Veronica Pastor has been named director of business development for Europe and the Middle East, Stephen Tom director for Asia-Pacific and Africa, and Mary Ann Brazell and Guy Cheney heads of business development for the Americas and Asia-Pacific, respectively. Pastor was a member of Legal Dept., while Tom was executive director of the Pacific Telecommunications Council. Chris Russell has become vice president-financial reporting.
Air New Zealand is evaluating the use of Paraparaumu Airport, a privately owned facility, for part of its domestic service to the Wellington region, says Deputy CEO Norm Thompson. In addition, the airline has been considering Whenuapai Air Base in Auckland as it tussles with the operators of Wellington International Airport over use of that facility, where it is the largest operator.
NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (Nustar) is back, after reversal of a 2006 agency decision to halt its funding because the Science Mission Directorate was running out of money. The Small Explorer-class mission, capped at $120 million, will count black holes with a focusing hard X-ray detector consisting of three aligned grazing incidence mirrors at the end of a deployable mast, all kept in the proper configuration with laser metrology.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is to begin checkout of the 2,685-lb. Dawn spacecraft’s ion propulsion system this week, following launch from Cape Canaveral Sept. 27 on board a United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy booster. With Dutch Space solar arrays spanning nearly 65 ft., Dawn is a Discovery- class mission using innovative solar electric/ion propulsion to penetrate the asteroid belt. It will orbit Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015 (AW&ST July 2, p. 56).
UKAMS, the British partner in the Paams (Principal Anti-Air Missile System), has asked the French armaments agency, DGA, to perform the trials of the air-defense system for the Type 45 destroyer. The testing will be conducted through next year at the French CELM test range in southern France.
Finnair’s selection of the General Electric CF6-80E1 to power seven Airbus A330-300s will include introduction of the Tech CF6 high-pressure turbine upgrade program. Launched last year, Tech CF6 includes turbine airfoil cooling advancements; they become standard on engines produced next year. Finnair’s $140-million engine contract calls for deliveries beginning in March 2009.
Boeing does not plan to flight test its new boom, designed for their 767-based proposal to USAF, prior to award of a development contract for KC-X. A downselect is expected by the end of January. The boom, labeled a sixth-generation system, will be longer than the one designed for purchases from Italy and Japan. Company officials also say its engagement envelope is twice as large as the boom on the KC-767s being exported. The officials declined to provide the boom’s specific dimensions.
One of the key designers of Russia’s latest generation of surface-to-air missile systems has died. Alexander Lemansky, who headed development of the S-400, died last week of a suspected heart attack during a visit to the Kapustin Yar missile test range. He was 72. The first S-400 battery was introduced into service at Elektrostal outside Moscow at the beginning of August. Lemansky became general designer at NPO Almaz in 1998. Along with the S-400, he was also involved in the latest upgrades to the S-300 SAM system, the S-300PMU-1 and S-300PMU-2.
Slashing the number of helicopter accidents 80% by 2017 will center on honing a pilot’s decision-making skills as well as requiring a massive investment in mission- and pilot-specific simulator-based training and the adoption of safety management and terrain avoidance systems, says an international team of safety experts.
Initial efforts by Lockheed Martin to entice international participants into early commitments to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) appear faltering, as key partners hold off on final decisions. Lockheed Martin’s first “Lightning Strike” meeting last month on the F-35 hasn’t yet fomented unified support among the program’s foreign partners. The company has been trying to obtain early firm commitments from program participants.
Iceland’s FL Group, an 8.25% shareholder in the AMR Corp., is frustrated with American Airlines’ management plans. The investor believes there is a lack of focus at AMR on boosting the share price. The stock price has dropped significantly since the start of the year, so FL Group is urging a restructuring. Specifically, it argues AMR should unbundle its various business activities. Some elements of the company, such as the AAdvantage Frequent Flyer program, are undervalued because they are held back by the airline operations, FL Group argues.
The augmenter, or afterburner, for the F-35’s F136 alternative engine has been fired for the first time by the GE/Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team in a test program that will continue through the fall. The augmenter was pushed to full power during tests at GE’s Cincinnati facilities. Testing will shift to USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development Center for simulated altitude testing. Critical design review is slated for early 2008 with the goal of first flight on an F-35 in 2010.
European Union transport ministers will meet this week to discuss a European Commission plan to reorganize and refinance the Galileo satellite navigation system. Johann-Dietrich Woerner, head of German aerospace center DLR, says Berlin will reject any proposal requiring hardware to be purchased according to EC rules. The U.K. is expected to take issue with aspects of the plan, too.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace, a name most commonly associated with military and commercial overhaul, maintenance and conversion programs, has established the ST Aviation Training Academy for commercial pilot training as a complement to ST Aerospace’s military pilot training program.
Gulfstream plans to offer Required Navigation Performance capability on its G450 and G550 large-cabin business jets with the support of Honeywell and Jeppesen. Gulfstream eventually will offer RNP on all its aircraft models, says Mike Mena, director of advanced cockpit programs. The G450 and G550 have the PlaneView cockpit, and Chad Cundiff, vice president of crew interface products for Honeywell, says his company will upgrade the system software and its related flight management system to accommodate Gulfstream’s needs.
David Hughes’ article “No-Go Zone” (AW&ST Sept 3, p. 67) describing the joint Honeywell Aerospace and Sensis Corp. runway incursion warning system offers the hope of materially reducing the threat of runway collisions, but the same technology should be “kicked up a notch” to revolutionize control tower communications?
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
How many C-27J mishaps will be attributed to the stunts reported in your article (AW&ST Sept. 10, p. 62). I logged about 800 combat hours in C-130s in Southeast Asia and can’t think of when inverted flight or 130 deg. of bank would have been useful. I respect the courage of the Italian pilots and your writer, but question the wisdom of encouraging similar displays.
EADS Defense & Security has won a €28-million ($39-million) contract from France’s DGA to build and support a network of transportable portals for imagery intelligence applications. This Pharos network is similar to the EADS-supplied U.S. Eagle Vision system.
